woven silk, 1700s, Persian short-sleeved jacket of woven silk and metal thread, lined with resist and block printed cotton and faced with woven silk. There are shoulder seams and the sleeves are set at right angles to the main body. There are diamond shaped openings below the arm holes. There are curved panels over the hips; curved flaps at the bottom of the long, open neckline; there is no sign of a fastening. The fabric has a light blue ground plain weave ground with isolated floral stems with a pink or purple carnation on a curving green stem with a bud in the alternate colour and roots in the main colour. These colour combinations alternate and the flowers bend in the opposite direction in alternate rows. Metal thread issued to outline the leaves and stems and to form the ground for the carnation. It is silver strip close S-wound around a white silk core. Three impressed lines form a large diamond lattice on the lower front flaps and part of the lower back. A small horseshoe shaped cloud motif comes between each floral motif with an upside down butterfly in profile above it and a pair the right way up below it. All these small motifs are worked in pink silk and metal thread [silver-gilt close S-wound on a yellow silk core]. Lining: pieced, so that the pattern is upside down in places. Black ground with off-set rows of a small white petalled flower with red centre and purple outlined on green stem. Facing: bias cut, striped silk, indistinct floral motif on red and orange stripes.